(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates, in general, to technology for displaying views of a vehicle, such as an automobile, and its surroundings. More particularly, the present invention relates to technology that is capable of, when displaying a combined bird's eye view of a vehicle and its surroundings based on views of the vehicle and surroundings acquired from a plurality of cameras for photographing a vehicle and its surroundings, displaying a three-dimensional (3D) object, where the 3D object may, for example be an object or obstacle which may disturb driving, or a human body which may be harmed while driving; hereinafter referred to as the “obstacle”) in the bird's eye view without suitably causing a sense of incongruity.
(b) Background
An example of a system for combining views from a plurality of cameras on a vehicle with an alternative view of the vehicle and providing a bird's eye view of the vehicle taken from a virtual viewpoint above the vehicle to a driver includes, for example, the “Around View Monitor” of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
However, in employing this type of conventional technology in the bird's eye view, an obstacle is viewed as being laid down flat on a road surface. Furthermore, in this type of technology, it is suitably impossible to display the part of an obstacle, that is, the part of an object, having a height which is suitably outside the photographable range of the cameras. Further, in employing this type of technology, there also arises the sense of incongruity in which an object having a height is viewed as extending out of a vehicle in the form of a rectilinear line which connects the location of a camera with the location of the object on a road surface.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-189293, incorporated by reference in its entirety herein, is directed to technology that, when part of an obstacle is detected in the range in which a camera cannot photograph it (the side behind the obstacle which is viewed from the camera), determines the non-photographed part using the location of the edge of the detected obstacle facing the vehicle and filling in the part with an alternative view. However, this technology is related with the display of a top view, and does not disclose an improvement in the display of a bird's eye view of an area outside a vehicle, for example, an area behind or beside the vehicle. Furthermore, since dynamic representation is not included in an alternative view of an obstacle, the ability to call attention to the motion of an obstacle, such as a human, is low.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 7-223488, incorporated by reference in its entirety herein, is directed to technology that, when an obstacle is detected, displays a schematic figure (a static alternative view) at a location where the obstacle is detected according to the type of detected obstacle (e.g., a human, a bicycle, a vehicle, or the like).
However, this type of display of an obstacle is not accompanied with an indication of the presence of a motion or the direction of a posture, and still exhibits a sense of incongruity.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-295043, incorporated by reference in its entirety herein, is directed to technology that, in the case where a detected obstacle (a human) is present outside the range of a displayed view, illustrates the movement of the obstacle using alternative views based on top views, but the alternative views are suitably limited to the top views acquired from directly above the obstacle. Meanwhile, in the case where an obstacle is present within the range of a displayed screen, the obstacle is displayed as it is. Accordingly, neither of the two cases can overcome the sense of incongruity.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.